Friday, 16 August 2013

Last-Week Links: 16 August 2013

We're in that weird period in the middle of August where I always seem to be frantically busy and everyone else seems to be on holiday. This collection of links are roughly grouped around stories from Vogue, stories from the Telegraph and the TV show Girls (and sometimes all of them at the same time).

Of course, in glossy magazine world, it's a big month with the launch of the famed September issues. Vogue.com has put together a gallery of selected September issues from throughout its history. The September 1943 is one of my favourites for its strange mixture of wartime duty mixed with new seasons fashions - of course by this stage the States is completely cut off from Paris fashions. It's also interesting to compare the Vogue covers this September: American Vogue has gone for the adorable (but safe?) choice of Jennifer Lawrence, while British Vogue shows a dishevelled and cool Daria Werbowy.

The Telegraph also shared the trailer for the new Carine Roitfeld film, Madamoiselle C, which reminds me that my colleague told me she saw a great documentary about Vogue editors, The Eyes Have It, on her flight back from the States - does anyone know how I can watch it in the UK?

Men spend more on shoes than women, according to the Guardian. Any child who is lucky enough to have a pair of shoes from the new Charlotte Olympia kids 'Incy' collection is also guaranteed to also be wearing a more expensive pair than me.

My seemingly inevitable link to a Life photo story this week came via Bank Holiday who featured colour photographs taken during the Second World War. While some of the other photos feature bomb-flattened buildings, or bustling activity - such as the vegetable garden outside the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park - like picture looks like a vision of tranquillity.

XO Jane's review of Singled Out - about the aftermath of the First World War on the lives of the 'surplus women' - made me remember what a good book that is, and how it subtly challenged how I felt about myself and my relationships with men - and how I would feel if relationships with men simply weren't an option. It also reminded me to pick up my copy of Bachelor Girl, currently stashed away on a bookshelf somewhere.

I'm not in London on 7 September but, if I was, I'd really want to take part in the Pre-Raphaelite pilgrimage. Last time I went to Red House, they let me take my tea from the cafe out into the garden where I sat and read my book. That was giddy pleasure enough, let alone an actual party.

And so onto the giddy pleasures of the weekend. I really feel like I need it this week - hope you enjoy it too!

2 comments:

I am very excited about getting up to date with season 2 - I was so desperate to see it I tried to watch an episode on cable in Cuba. Shame it was all in Spanish, and I was none the wiser as to what was going on!

Visualize yourself as you looked on a beautiful autumn day last year. There's not much of the picture that survives. Not the hemline, waistline or the shoulderline ... If you're not a Last-Year Girl. You'll like the feel of a longer, fuller skirt flowing around you as you move ... You'll enjoy having hips again - without apologies; and the satisfaction of a small, rounded, tapering waist and of having it show in the snug bodice tops. You can have it all.